Progress towards a circular economy in materials to decarbonize electricity and mobility

Authors

Dustin Mulvaney, San Jose State UniversityFollow
Ryan M. Richards, Colorado School of Mines
Morgan D. Bazilian, Colorado School of Mines
Erin Hensley, Colorado School of Mines
Greg Clough, Colorado School of Mines
Seetharaman Sridhar, Colorado School of Mines

Publication Date

3-1-2021

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

Volume

137

DOI

10.1016/j.rser.2020.110604

Abstract

Over 90% of the global economy continues to use natural resources unsustainably. The linear “take-make-toss” approach to materials use still prevails over circular economy and industrial ecology ideas in practice. The shift to renewable energy is one step towards building an economy on more circular material flows. But the materials needed to decarbonize electricity and mobility are supplied by mining and extractives industries, places where impacts from natural resource extraction can be most severe. Manufacturers of wind turbines, photovoltaics, batteries and vehicles—critical technologies to the clean energy transition—still primarily rely on feedstocks and inputs from natural resources as opposed to waste for processing and production. Similarly, robust and complete end-of-life (EoL) management strategies are not well developed for these materials. This review synthesizes progress towards a circular economy—reducing impacts from resource extraction, metallurgy, manufacturing, and waste disposal, and resource recovery—in key materials needed to decarbonize electricity and mobility. Efforts to manufacture by principles of sustainable design to reclaim the recycling value of EoL product waste are complicated by new materials and increasingly complex composites. Dialog and collaboration about trends in materials use and waste flows that span extractive industry scientists and professionals to product designers and recyclers will be critical to spurring the technological and policy innovations needed to encourage more progress.

Keywords

Circular economy, Extractive industries, Green design, Recycling, Renewable energy, Zero waste

Department

Environmental Studies

Recommended Citation

Dustin Mulvaney, Ryan M. Richards, Morgan D. Bazilian, Erin Hensley, Greg Clough, and Seetharaman Sridhar. "Progress towards a circular economy in materials to decarbonize electricity and mobility" Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2020.110604